Summary
Roberts (2011) article highlights on the increased world population, which currently stands at about seven billion people. To estimate the world’s population, UN and USCB use statistics and censuses from over 228 political entities and countries. The censuses and statistics not only help to project deaths inclusive of those caused by epidemics but also to project births inclusive of those conceived by the refugees.
Approximately, 367,000 people are born each day while 153,000 people die each day hence resulting into an increase of 78.5 million people annually. As revealed, the increased population results from the gradual decline of deaths and gradual increase of births in a rapid manner. As a result, more people are born whilst fewer people succumb to death thus leading to population increment “attainment of billion-person milestones every 12 or 13 years” (Roberts, 2011, para. 11).
Analysis
However, one cannot help but note the statistical discrepancies that exist between the United Nations and USCB. USCB notes that the population will not reach 7 billion until four months are over. This implies that the United Nations ‘miss’ the population estimation “of 28 million, which is more that all people in Saudi Arabia” (Roberts, 2011, para. 2).
The justification behind the outcome is the “margin of error of at least 1 percent” (Roberts, 2011, para. 4) which is said to give room for errors. Considering that UN and USCB collected information from similar sources, the estimation should be approximately the same and therefore, the error margin is not justifiable.
A close look reveals that the disparity results from interpretation of figures. USCB use ‘silly’ or impractical population interpreters ‘population clock’ that projects the number of persons who die or are given birth to every minute. As indicated, UN “don’t use a population clock” (Roberts, 2011, para. 6).
Unfortunately, USCB dismisses these claims when they state that their estimates are precise ‘remarkably close’ (Roberts, 2011, para. 10). This shows that they are not willing to solve the population’s statistical differences between them and UN.
Interpretation
The more people the world has, the more resources are used. Therefore, if there is an increased population that the world can barely support, people will competed for the available resources including land, water and the available economic opportunities. This implies that there are people who will be destitute.
In addition, increased competition for the available resources implies that people will have to fight for the resources thus resulting to conflicts, which can lead to wars. This explains why there is a need to have proper population estimates. They form the basis of addressing the needs and problems that the world’s population is facing such as mitigating overpopulation.
Opinion/insight
Changes in population could affect all people including me. If the world becomes overpopulated, I would likely succumb to poverty or live in a war-stricken society. For this reason, I think that the USCB and the UN should collaboratively evaluate the population estimates.
This will help them come up with the most appropriate method that they can use to interpret the statistics and the censuses collected. In addition, this will help them come up with a more precise estimate for the world’s population and project how the population growth will be in future. This way, all members of the society including the government and the international bodies can come up with precise solutions that could help mitigate overpopulation.
References
Roberts, S. (2011). U.N. says 7 billion now share the world. Web.